APL's Departmental Technology Transfer Team Inventor Representative

Dr. Roger Hammons

The DTTT was established in 2000 by the Office of Technology Transfer (OTT) to serve as a communication channel between OTT and department heads, business area executives and other Lab leadership on technology transfer issues.

The Inventor Representative role was created in 2007 to help OTT and management understand the inventors' perspective. The representative serves as a point of contact for technical staff and inventors to approach for help with technology transfer issues such as disclosures, inventorship, royalty sharing and licensing.

Richard Potember, of the Milton Eisenhower Research Center, previously served in the role from 2008-2010.

Dr. Hammons, who has 33 U.S. patents and was a finalist for OTT's 2009 Invention of the Year, will help the DTTT address the challenges that inventors face in the process of transferring their technology to industry. He'll help streamline processes and procedures, identify areas of improvement and also support OTT's inventor educational programs (like Innovation ΧΔ Lunchbox events, webinars and brown bag lunches). He will also help the office in its efforts to recognize participation in the technology transfer process and incentivize inventors in meaningful ways.

Dr. Hammons was recommended to the DTTT by Ralph Semmel, who was then head of AISD.

"I am particularly excited about research and development efforts that are both technically interesting and impactful," Hammons says. "The patent process is almost as old as the country itself; it represents a contract between the U.S. Government and the scientific/engineering/business community to further the development of technology by offering protection for inventions that are publicly disclosed rather than kept secret. By pursuing patents, we are furthering important interests of our country. It is an interesting and rewarding activity fundamental to research and development."

Dr. Hammons joined APL in 2003 and has an extensive background in communication and radar systems. He has published numerous papers and is a world-recognized expert in channel coding and applications. He was recipient of the 1995 IEEE Information Theory Society Best Paper Award for work that established the study of Z4-linear codes. He currently serves as assistant supervisor of AISD's Communication and Networking Technology Group.